Mr. Fingers – "Beyond the Clouds" (1986)

The iconic Chicago house label Trax was notoriously cheap with vinyl; its pressings shoddy and thin. (Some have reported finding bits of paper in Trax pressings; a few have even found cigarette butts pressed into the vinyl.) An original 1986 Trax pressing stacked the Mr. Fingers masterpieces "Washing Machine" and "Can You Feel It" on the same side of a 12", with "Beyond the Clouds" on the flip side. Perhaps that's the reason why the sweeping eight-minute epic often gets short shrift, thought of as a mere B-side next to Larry Heard's other widely acknowledged classics. "Beyond the Clouds" is deeply moving and quietly haunting; melancholy strings swelling over a minimal synth line and the barest of beats.